Is This The World We Created

Chapter 11

Harry blearily blinked open his eyes, yawning tiredly, aching in places he wasn't sure he could ache. Licking his dry lips, man, he was so thirsty, sliding absently out of bed trying to stretch only to yelp in agony, "Ahh, what the fucking hell?" freezing entirely, so that he didn't endure further pain. Breathing out evenly, what had he done last night to cause this?

Flicking his wand, he glanced at the time through half-lidded eyes. Then, and only then, did the memories come rushing back, breath hitching, shock thrumming through him, "Peter!" lurching to his feet, staring at his nightwear, before shrugging, ensuring he still had his wand upon his person, he began to Apparate. The words the pack said, echoing around in his mind about the fire and what they knew that had happened. which pushed Harry in his desire to protect them all. He couldn't believe they'd come that far back…but he'd take it, he'd take it and save them all.

He would need to Apparate at least twenty times before he got to California…given what they'd just done…he wasn't sure he'd get there in time.

And wasn't that a terrifying thought?

Apparating near to the English channel.

Then to France.

Harry continued to hop/Apparate countries technically breaking the law since he didn't go to the Ministries to declare himself.

Spain was his next stop, which caused him to stumble, as his magic began to sputter under the strain.

Refusing to allow it to deter him, he focused on his next spot, Portugal. All the while praying to a damn deity that he didn't believe in, or Hecate that he did, to get there before his mate's body was burnt to hell and the pain drove him into his own mind.

The first of Peter's senses to return was his hearing, and for which he assumed he was having another nightmare. As he heard his niece and nephews, parents, sisters call calling out, screaming, terrified out of their goddamned mind.

"Get the humans up the stairs!" Talia ordered.

"Smoke rises! They'll die quicker if we put them up there!" Sebastian, the Alpha-mate, Talia's mate, protested, grabbing a hold of their very human and vulnerable son. Terror for them coursing through him, his eldest children were out of the house…he was grateful for that, that they were being spared this fate.

"We can't get out!"

"Uncle Peter, help us," Cora choked out, shaking her Uncle Peter vigorously, very sure in her belief that her Uncle Peter could safe them. The sheer terror and fear everyone was experiencing was backflowing on everyone, winding them up further. "Please, help us! Save us!" her claws unsheathed and bit into Peter's chest and arm.

The overwhelming scent of wolfsbane and smoke saturated everything.

Then Peter's eyes snapped open, the blue supernatural hue his teeth morphing as fury took hold.

"Uncle Peter!" Cora cried out, relief barely going undetected under all the fear the entire pack was experiencing.

Harry apparated to Morocco, mentally cursing Iceland for not having a designated Apparation spot. Because he would have only had to Apparate twice to get to Peter, instead of the dozen he was having to do. It was too much even for him to Apparate straight from the UK all the way to America, it just could not be done. Apparation was meant for miles in mind, not hundreds of thousand of them. He'd barely landed when he used his magic to transport him to Mali then Sierra Leone.

"Merlin, hold on Peter," Harry whispered, glancing at the time, before tensing as he apparated from Sierra Leone to Brazil, he was getting there…there was only one problem, he didn't know exactly where the Hales lived…just Beacon Hills, now he knew Beacon Hills…but that was decades in the future…the landscape was vastly different right now no doubt.

Stiles blinked groggily, staring at the ceiling, a little fuzzy, frowning in confusion.

"Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling?" Melissa asked, smiling at Stiles.

"Where am I?" Stiles muttered, freezing at the sound of his own voice…a voice that sounded irritatingly and horrifyingly young. "What day is it? Time is it?" panicking, as he sat up in bed.

"Calm down it's only been a few hours," Melissa soothed the worried child, "Your dad is talking to your Doctor they'll be down in a bit."

Stiles swallowed, heart pounding, Melissa was alive! Everyone was alive! They'd done it. A sigh left his lips, his dad was alive, tears prickled at his eyes, that was until he happened to glance at his watch, a watch he hadn't seen in years, it broke after trying to hold Derek up in the pool years and years ago…it didn't just tell the time, it had the date as well…and his heart stopped before speeding up erratically, as his mind automatically connected the dots.

Holy fucking shit.

25th January 2005.

7:00PM.

He knew the importance of that time and date…it was imprinted into his memory…numerous times.

The Hale fire…it had already started.

By 7:45PM the Hale pack would be decimated.

He'd wished to meet Derek's pack, his family, and somehow…his magic had succeeded in allowing it. He could save Derek's pack, his mates pack. So that the horror that he lived with would fade away.

Lurching out of bed, grateful that he still had his own clothes still on, ignoring Melissa calling for him, he couldn't hang around, couldn't wait. Automatically trying to find a phone he did not have, his dad hadn't gotten him one…he was too young. He couldn't call the damn fire department to get them out.

Cursing his short legs, as he bolted, and his lack of stamina, he was already lagging and he wasn't even out of the hospital yet. With a little luck, Derek had remained conscious or Peter…and they were all out but Stiles couldn't risk them not being.

Worse still…he couldn't feel his magic, either he'd completely exhausted it…or he didn't have it yet. He couldn't teleport himself to the Hale house…he was going to have to get there the long way. He didn't have a car! He thought in sheer panic, as he bolted out into the parking lot, he caught sight of his dad's old cruiser.

"Sorry dad!" Stiles muttered, testing the doors, only to find them open, which meant he didn't need to smash the window open at least…scrambling inside, grateful that he had long ago learned how to hotwire a car. Grabbing his dad's lunch, he took the knife, and inserted the knife and yanked the steering column panel off, and uncovering the three lots of wires.

Wires leading to the column-mounted controls on one side, like lights, cruise control, and other indicators. Wires leading to the column controls on the other side, like wipers or seat warmers. Wires leading to the battery, ignition, and starter leading straight up the steering column…he vividly remembered…thank goodness it wasn't a newer car otherwise he'd be screwed.

Claiming the two he'd need, he didn't twist them, just touched them together, watching them spark and whooping as the car started. Revving the engine a few times, he put the car into gear, and just happened to look around as his father emerged from the hospital, the look on his face…to Stiles was utterly comical as he watched him steal his car.

"Sorry," Stiles mouthed, before he took off like a bat out of hell.

Once he was on the move, he grabbed the radio, "This is Deputy Stilinski, I've got a 10-33 at the Hale mansion!" Stiles requested immediate assistance to the Hale mansion, he honestly didn't know the address…but everyone knew where the Hale Mansion was despite not knowing the full address. "There's a 10-82 send the fire department! It's Arson! Send everyone 10-85!" without light and sirens, so they didn't scare the fuckers. He just wished he had a damn phone with a camera, so that he could record them. More proof that the justice system couldn't discard. If they survived the night.

"Stiles is that you?" came through the radio.

"10-1," Stiles tried to sound as gruff as possible, as much like his father…he could not have this written off as a joke. 10-1 meant bad connection, hopefully that's what they would assume on their end too. Unless his father had already called the station…but who the hell knows? He just needed to get to the Hale Mansion. He didn't want to see Peter burn again…didn't want to see Derek lose his family again…or Cora run…no, no he'd save them.

Swerving onto the grass, he made sure he wasn't going to accidentally hurt someone as he avoided the traffic ignoring the horns honking at his actions. Once the block of traffic was behind him, swerving once more, he pressed down on the accelerator and shot off once more on the empty road.

Apparating to Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and then blessedly the United States of America. He was in the USA, with only a second to catch his breath, Harry apparated straight to the Nemeton, it was as close to the Hale property that he knew…that wasn't across town. He should have bloody learned the territory of Beacon Hills so he knew the way to the Hales, so he knew exactly how to save them.

They'd never thought for a second though, that they could go back this far… not far enough that they could actually save the Hales. Sure, Peter, Cora and Derek had probably thought about it desperately, desiring it, wishing for it…but there was no way they'd actually expected it.

Harry blinked at the sight of a flush, health-ish looking Nemeton. Whatever had happened…had only recently happened to it. It would be saved, it would thrive, protect Beacon Hills and it's inhabitants. "Show me the way to the Hale house…come on, they're in danger!" Harry pressed his hand against the trunk of the tree, "Expecto Patronum!"

A beautiful white wolf shot out of Harry's wand, it disappeared into the Nemeton, sparking it blue, before it lopped off away, showing Harry the way, the Nemeton was helping after all.

"Thank you," he said, to the sentient being, before he began to run in the direction that the wolf was guiding him in.

The smell of smoke soon began to penetrate his scenes…the fire had already been started…he'd heavily suspected…but to realize it was another thing altogether. Getting a second wind, he ran faster, cursing the fact he didn't think to summon his damn broomstick as he made his way through the darkened night, tripping over roots, and rocks and holes, and marginally nearly ending up in a trap, one he was intimately familiar with. A hunters trap. He should have guessed they'd have them around the damn property.

With a little luck Peter will have gotten them all out and the only thing damaged was the property.

Just as he thought it, a shiver ran up his spine…a familiar one.

Death was nearby.

The Hales were still in that building and Death was just waiting for them.

"Oh, no you don't," Harry hissed under his breath, "They do not belong to you," grunting as he stumbled over a branch ungracefully. He hadn't been so ungraceful in years, and it was humiliating for him, he who was able to navigate successfully in the dark without even a slightest tumble. He was going to have to get re-used to his body again.

The presence dimmed somewhat, clearly hearing him, he hadn't accepted his MOD powers as of yet, he hadn't really until the world ended.

He was ultimately still the Master Of Death, and the Hales would not die on his watch.

The wolf Patronus begun to dim, just as he begun to hear the screams, crying and laughing from the occupants and those surrounding Hale mansion.

Stiles approached the road to the Hale mansion, turning off the lights, screeching as he yanked the steering wheel so that the car would turn without slowing. The smoke was bellowing out of the house, the flames consuming the fragile building.

Then he saw them, all laughing and revelling in the Hales trapped in their home. Stiles knew that this was the basement where the Hales were all trapped. Trapped by the mountain ash that Kate Argent had bloody scattered everywhere. Peter hadn't gotten them out…otherwise they wouldn't be there.

He couldn't see Kate Argent…had she already left? Fury scalded him, finally, finally understanding why Peter had killed them if he was hearing this. Snarling low in his throat, he pressed down on the accelerator fully and the car sped towards them, and Stiles let it happen, the three of them were soon caught under the cruiser, and the cruiser smashed its way into the house.

Coughing spluttering, and with an aching head from where his head hit the steering wheel, Stiles stumbled out of the car. Blindly lurching his hand out, demanding that the mountain ash come to him, to centre in his hand to act as he bid it to. Unable to see his own hand from the dense cloud of smoke surrounding him.

"GET OUT! NOW! GET OUT! THE MOUNTAIN ASH IS GONE! THE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT ARE COMING!" Stiles hollered, before taking a great big hacking cough, he couldn't breathe…the humans in the pack…it must be the same. "G…get out," his next raspy shout was more a whisper, his lungs straining under the smoke and fire he could feel licking at his spine. He could only imagine what it was doing to the werewolves.

He couldn't venture further in to save them…not without killing himself in the process. He selfishly couldn't bring himself to do that…he couldn't leave Derek alone. It would…destroy him to find he died here, in a way that losing his family hadn't. No, not yet, he had to be able to say he had tried his hardest.

One step in, the feel of the flames so hot made him feel as though he was burning himself. It made sense, because it had completely reduced all the werewolves in the fire to ash, the only things to survive that had been in the house was Peter and Talia's claws.

He was going to have to retreat, tears spilled down his face, from both the defeat and the sting of the smoke. "I'm sorry Der…." He muttered, taking a wobbly step back, "I tried," he had really tried.

Then he felt it and saw it, the smoke in the property dispersing.

Hope began to thrum within him….could it be? Or was it just the air from the hole he'd made in the house with the cruiser?

The sheer liberation he felt almost bowled him over, Harry was here. Then the water actually did…the crisp coolness of it was a relief actually. The water was so powerful…so immense, that Stiles had no chance against it's tide.

He wasn't really surprised to end up in the basement.

"Uh…Hi?" Stiles said after the water dispersed around him, and he fell with a thump on the basement floor. Peter still got burnt it seemed, noticing the wounds, but they were insignificant compared to the last time around.

Harry smirked at him, before focusing entirely on Peter. Cupping Peter's face, he would have offered a potion, but the healing was already finishing up. "You alright?" aware of the trauma and the wounds that had been suddenly yanked back open.

Stiles' eyes roamed around, "We did it," he said, with a giddy laugh, which suited his ten-year-old body a lot more than it would have suited his adult body that was for damn certain.

As one the werewolves all glanced upwards, Stiles was very familiar with that.

"Um…I called the fire department and stole a cruiser…my dad will be on his way," Stiles admitted, before the realisation washed over him, "My dad…" a man he had not seen in such a long time. Grief and unholy glee wrapped itself around him, he didn't care he was going to catch hell for this…his dad was alive. "You might want to put those claws and eyes away," he commented to who he was pretty damn sure was Talia Hale. She looked too much like Laura (or what he'd seen of her dead body and all) and Derek looked a tiny bit like her, they were Hales though…and they all looked alike to some extent.

"Where are they?" Peter snarled, his own eyes flashing blue as he staggered to his feet, well used to pain and fighting through weaknesses, unlike the rest of his very 'peaceful' pack. He knew the arsonists were outside, he'd heard them all…heard Argent again. Three simple words almost had him bowling over in agony, as his lungs protested, the wolfsbane still affecting him.

"I ran three of them down, they won't be going anywhere anytime soon…as for the others…I have no idea, I couldn't spot her," Stiles commented, deliberately not using names, he wanted his damn magic back as soon as possible. The second this was over…he was getting himself to the Nemeton. He felt like he was naked, wounded beyond bearing without his magic.

Peter's lips twitched, of course, Stiles had always been crafty, end of the world or not…he wouldn't be Stiles if he wasn't in the thick of it. With or without his magic, which he was definitely without right now, he could not sense him in a way he had done for the last decade.

Then again, even without his magic Stiles had been lethal.

"STILES!" came the frantic roar of Noah Stilinski as he took in the burnt down house and his crashed cruiser…fear almost rendering Noah frozen, but his training prevented that, as he scrambled towards the burning building. Before he could even get closer, he was snatched around the middle, preventing him from entering the burning building.

"Come on, let the fire department do their job," the Sherriff ordered, succeeding in shifting Noah out of the way, so the fire truck could make it's way closer to the property, it didn't take five minutes for fire fighters to enter the property while two others turned the hose on.

"Let me go!" Noah hissed, he couldn't lose his son, the adrenaline causing him to shake severely.

"Car's empty," came the voice of one of the fire fighters, as he gave the cruiser another once over.

Noah gaped at the words, before his eyes began to roam over the woods that was the Hales garden. Where could he be? He could be anywhere! Hell, he might have hurt his head and wandered off!

"Dad! Dad!" Stiles called out, bolting towards him, it had been so very long since he saw him, spoke to him, touched him, hugged him. He skidded to a halt when Laura's Black Camaro skidded to a halt and Laura jumping out before the car even properly stopped. Derek skidded to a half through the trees, right behind him, an incredulous laugh left Stiles lips, unable to help himself, Derek's bare ass was visible to the world, through the hospital gown he had on.

"Stiles…" Derek said, both of them caught between wanting to go to their families they'd missed so much…or to each other.

A soft smile appeared on Stiles lips, "Go ahead," knowing what each other wanted, they both sheepishly grinned, before Stiles was grabbing his father in a bearhug.

For Derek it wasn't that easy…for he had fourteen relatives he'd lost in the fire…including ten months old Cory Hale, his youngest human cousin. His mother, his father, aunts uncles…great aunt, great uncle and cousins.

A decision easily made when he noticed Laura clutching onto their mother, he ran up to his father, being careful of his little human brother, Sebastian, primarily called Bastian and Derek burrowed his head into his father's neck, and under the stink of smoke, he smelt that all familiar smell that he'd cherished since he was a cub and relaxed fully against his father for the first time in decades. Tears unwittingly ran down his face, unable to believe this miracle…he knew, he knew Stiles was responsible for this second chance.

By the moon his family was alive, he wasn't going to be commanded into running to New York with Laura. They weren't reduced to ash, leaving them unable to bury their entire family….by the moon…they were saved.

It hadn't been their goal…but damn if he wouldn't take this second chance for exactly what it was.

He sensed rather than felt Peter trying to walk passed them, instead of letting him he gripped his shoulder and forced him towards them, bringing him into the family hug. Nobody had any need to know what Peter had done when he was insane. The family was alive and whole.

Time for the slate to be wiped clean entirely.

Except for the hunters of course.

Now they deserved what was about to come.

He, Stiles, Peter and Harry would need to discuss the next move.

He'd almost had a heart attack when Laura told him the date and time. The first young werewolf to have a heart attack at that. she'd been so young…he had suspected it was sometime after the fire…he'd forgotten what Laura was wearing when they'd…no, it wasn't until she mentioned the date and time that he ran home.

Derek felt the tears falling from Peter's eyes onto his neck, just hearing Laura talk.

Despite the sweet relief…It was going to take some getting used to. Their lives had drastically changed within a few waken minutes.

Ugh this so did NOT go the way I wanted it too . my muse is still primarily on EHTS! Upside I've got a part-time job so yay! but don't worry it shouldn't how often I write...at least I don't think it will...I can get a chapter of EHTS up in 3 hours...or so :) I might delete this and give it a do over unless i like it better after a second read of it...but whats your take on it? R&R please :)